Google pins Carlsbad with e-commerce award

Announcement made at mayor's State of the City address

CARLSBAD  Google Inc. has named Carlsbad the most Internet-savvy business community in California, officials announced Friday.

A Google official presented the award to Carlsbad Mayor Matt Hall during Hall’s annual State of the City speech, in which the mayor highlighted the city’s sound finances, strong job growth and blossoming tourism industry.

The honor dubs Carlsbad one of America’s 50 “eCities,” a new award the company plans to give to one city in each state this year to promote the connection between technology and business growth.

Company officials said they teamed with an independent research firm to analyze 13,000 cities across the nation on how many small businesses had websites, used blogs, embraced social media, sold goods directly from their website and had mobile-friendly websites.

“With 97 percent of Internet users looking for products and services online, it’s clear that success is about being connected,” said Scott Levitan, Google’s director of small-business engagement.

Hall’s State of the City speech, delivered at the Sheraton Carlsbad Resort & Spa before an audience of nearly 500, included an array of statistics showing the city’s strong growth in tax revenue, jobs and tourism since the recession.

Hall said annual sales tax revenue has climbed from $22.8 to $29.9 million, property tax has jumped from $48 to $51.2 million and hotel room tax revenue has grown from $11.7 to $14.7 million.

Meanwhile, the number of jobs in the city has climbed from 43,700 to 47,000, Hall said.

He said other good news included several construction projects, such as the La Costa Town Square development, a Lowe’s Home Improvement expected to open soon and a $100 million remodel of Westfield Carlsbad that began this month.